Nathan Astle 222

[majidkhalid443]

The thing that I love most about Test matches is a set batsman batting with tailenders (Cairns excluded!)

[majidkhalid443]

Its got to be one of the biggest total in the 4th innings. A fit Cairns n it might have been even a win for the BlackCaps

[majidkhalid443]

6:20 awesome shot man !!!!!!

[khanpreston1]

i really love to see him going down the wicket and fucking fast bowlers out of the stadium

[khanpreston1]

ass-tle

[Eminem117Nas]

I remeber this match. Nathan Astle was my favorite player when i was a kid.

[mrbandishbhoir]

I was watching this match.. Even though the target was huge, Astle and Cairns would have made it...

[MTed165]

6.19 has to be one of the biggest hits ever.

[madascene99]

Watched every ball of that innings live and I have never seen anyone taking out the fast bowlers to the cleaners ball after ball like that. He could of won that match single handedly that day and created history. After so many years, this still remains the greatest test innings I have ever seen.

[shj346]

Looks like the commentators are from England, that's why they are not happy to comment while Astle was hitting them so brilliantly.

I am sure even a drunk would be excited by this innings but not these commentators :)

[basilbrushnz]

man still kicking myself, was going to go and watch this live but thought pointless as we were getting hammered.

[trailofdeadpeople]

That shot at 6:19 is one motherfucker of a hit. clears the stadium by miles!

[LeighboNZ]

i remember being at cricket and hearing we were getting pounded by the poms....but then hearing Astle was going batsh!t and destroying the bowlers. Just pure power, timing and seeing it like a beachball!

[Gramscifreedom]

I remember this match well. In my opinion one of the great test matches: Chris Cairn's two wickets in the first over of the match, Nasser's Captain's century in the first innings, Hoggard's seven for in NZ's first innings, Freddie's maiden century, Thorpe's double century which at the time was the third fastest behind Botham and Gilchrist and then this amazing knock by Astle. Great stuff.

[macphersonleedsunite]

222 and on the loosing side haha.

[rafalutionine]

mark nicholas and astle r legends

[andrewseverinsen]

If only Tony Greig was commentating

[triz123]

haha i love his face at 6:25.

[damo24now]

he just needed some help from his mates and they would have won

[007dalal]

On this day Astle made bonnor,trumper jessop ,,richards,jayasuriya,gilchirs­t,sehwag look strokeless

[willandshaylin2008]

gretest hitting desplay probably ever the english attack wasnt a popgun attact by any means gilchrist did this more often but even gilly cant rival this display a amazing display

[submitobeyusa]

Too bad astle is a homo and none of his own team mates even liked him.

[daynjaaa]

@submitobeyusa cock

[umairmanutd]

brutal absolute brutal...this is one of the greatest test innings i've seen nathan astle what a legend...nz really misses him he retired so early..nz lost players too early like chris cairns,andre adams,stephen fleming,mcmillan they could have played more i think the board of nz never did the great job...

[MCSKUX]

Probably the greatest innings ever

[PiumanthaGunasekara]

he score 200 from 153 balls...

[SoAndChobe]

andy caddick!!! he is a bloody kiwi anyway!

[weatherallc05]

it was 200 runs plus, except the target was too much to ask for

[weatherallc05]

222 is double nelson. very unlucky!

[TheFlag07]

Thanks for posting this. I followed this innings on a quiet afternoon on cricinfo commentary. Staggering hitting. he went from 100 to 200 in 39 balls!

[weatherallc05]

fuck me, thts about 3 runs per ball!

[DAPomare]

I remember this was on a saturday because we were playing cricket and listening to it in the car. It was unreal hearing the radio commentors only mentioning boundaries. One of the best knocks. Unfortunate we lost the match...

[TheRealNeill]

That is some seriously good batting. It looks like he went berserk when all was lost and it's hard to know if that situation was beneficial or not. I'm not familiar with the details. England's attack doesn't look too bad to me but Gilchrist's knock when Australia was in quite a bit of trouble against South Africa and hence deserves bulk respect too.

[1zanos1]

astle on his day was 1 of da best batsmen of da last 15 years 2 bad he didnt do this more often this has o b the best knock ive ever seen although sehwag getn 284* in 1 day last nite must have been good watchn

[Skudyskuxx]

This knock was so mean.

My favourite NZ batsman at the time.

[dubba4848]

fastest double century ever and he would of had the fastest ever time wise if he hadn't of hit the ball onto the roof and into the car park

[pimpsoldier0]

he should thank his tailend batsman for hanging in there

[mkeysou812]

what a shame - probably the best batting ever seen in new zealand and we have to listen to the mournful bob willis and ian botham, the most boring commentator alive. makes you wish for bill lawry or tony greig

[1sicvr4]

very true

[mcdelive]

Ian Botham, Richie Benaud and Ian Chappel are the most boring commentators ever....!

Tony Greig, Mark Nicholas, Geoff Boycott, David Lloyd, Navjot Sing Sidu are up there as my favourites...!

[mkeysou812]

it's funny how sometimes boring or mediocre players make exciting commentators (bill lawry, boycott etc) and natural, exciting players like botham are so dead boring

[oscarwyatt69]

lol mark nicholas is a twat

[davidjames1923]

yip, he is the most annoying of them all! how is that guy a pom and not an aussie.......

[sly196]

his square cuts were timed once and compared to Sir Vivian Richards, Astle was proved the harder hitter. Hence Astles nickname Kiwi Master Blaster

[Ronsuri]

my fav NZ batsman

[growupmate]

what in gods name was chris cairnes doing batting at 11

[setonfan]

he had a realli terrible leg injury from memory

[JosephErnestHarper]

Nah. He just slept in aye. Classic Cairns. Fudgey.

[jaxpower1]

he was injured

[Maddolies]

Cairns had gotten injured earlier in the game and ended up batting down the order.

[jpmwilson]

probably injured

[keepviduzair]

diamond of NZ

[dnur567]

big hitting , entertaining knock indeed

[twmatcham]

Absolutely incredible batting when Cairns was in. I never knew Astle was that good!

[3003RICH]

This man was class on his day . watch for Ryder.

[wazza186]

awesome player

[shakeel1250]

ive seen many amazing test knocks but that one was simply amazing..... cant erase it from my memory.... astle.... goodness me !!!. Simply unbelievable inng. fearless and sheer attack just like richards implemented in his peak years.

[Shoaibfarooq89]

I agree that this guy was blessed with an amazing talent yet there was something bad about him. I personally, always saw him as a careless player. You would see many of his matches, he would play a careless shot at an important stage of the game and as a result, throw his wicket into the fire. So, I don't think that a player of his class should show such carelessness. Such players are expected to perform a lot better than they actualy do in the grounds. I hope you all would agree!!

[fireking345]

i agree.

even in this inn's

he got out because he chased a wide ball...which i thought was careless..

[allmenace]

it only took him 20 balls to get from his 100 to the 150 run mark.

[iwg0gr1m]

& only 19 to go from 150 to 200.

[pacus123]

So he hit his second 100 of just 39 balls?! WOW!

[iwg0gr1m]

Thats right. & its the quickest '100' in a test match by any player from any country. However, its not counted in the fastest 100 records since it was scored from 101-200. The fastest century in test history is 56, 17 more than Astles!

His 19 balls to go from 150-200 is 5 balls faster than the fastest 50 in test cricket (24 balls).

[lerpwlambyth]

Actually I think 150-200 took only 17 balls.

Adam Gilchrist also went from 50-100 in 17 balls against England in 2006.

[wavefrontmaya]

according to cricinfo the second 100 of this innings took only 39 balls. didnt knw Astle was such a pinch hitter

[TARAWELSH]

nathan played in our league this year.. didnt do nethin too special

19 inns 749runs at avg of 46

[williemo13]

This game was mean even though we still lost by nearly a hundy. Cairns came out brocken and still helped out. But the six at 6.19 was massive and a cut shot he played sounded like a shotgun

[ttr15]

06.19 that is absolutely HUGE!

[deccorey]

astle what a great player!

[estebann62]

Nathan Astle,yes you could have won the match,even though you scored 200 you dropped a vital catch.

[machodpakis12345]

great innings by astle but not as quite as godd as virender sehwags 319 against south africa. infact i dont think there ever will be

[jimbeam1239]

nz really misses this guy!

[grewalbs]

Nathan Astle is good with 222 runs

[manidar1977]

this is a great display of fearless batting.

[Kinitawowi]

Probably the most impressive display of hard, confident hitting since Mark Butcher blew 173 past the Aussies at Headingley.

[lerpwlambyth]

Just imagine what these guys sound like during a normal Test match!

Paul Allott has to be the most boring commentator ever. That shot at 5:57 went right out of the stadium, but you'd never know by the tone of his commentary. He also sounded boring during Shahid Afridi's incredible 37-ball century in his first ever ODI innings.

[leonidasaa]

If only Mark Taylor was commentating. His commentary during Adam Gilchrist's hundred during the last Ashes series was awesome. Shame Bumble wasn't commentating while Astle went into full attack mode. He would have loved it. Allot is too English to get excited about seeing the English bowlers getting slogged.

[zelstar20]

terrible commentary for such an awesome innings

[MetalGecko87]

listen to the sound of his bat with those sixes at the end, as sweet as it can get.

[MercurySilver]

That was one of the most drab, uninspiring bits of commentating i have ever heard. Especially considering how exciting the innings was

[Torbjornswen]

What an innings. What a player. I wonder who the Einstein was that bullied him out of the side.

[India4life]

is his teammates had stayed with him this would most definatly have been the highest 2nd innings run chase, chased down.

[thisisinstant]

Great innings by astle, but I dont agree that the english attack was weak

[TheGameOvais]

1 final thing to say, his expression at 6.24, a classic, one for ages just like this innings, breathtaking stuff.

[TheGameOvais]

Truly one of the most insane displays of cricketing ability ever witnessed. Incredible ball striking, magnificent ball striking.

[TheGameOvais]

I'm not a Kiwi, but I have to say this is one of the greatest displays of ball striking I've ever seen in Test Cricket, it's comes close to Afridi Assault on India and that Hayden Assault on S Africa, though England were bowling dross. Long hop after long hop after long hop.

[RustyTrombone68]

Gotta love Caddick's ears, they would have stopped a few fours in their time.

[smellystuff]

Might as well enjoy this video again because our current batsmen will be lucky to get 50 never mind 200 in the upcoming series.

[RustyTrombone68]

We still should be a few runs ahead of England most of the time though.

[lerpwlambyth]

No it was as follows:

50 off 54

100 off 114

150 off 136

200 off 153

222 off 168

[RKOStunner]

astle scored his next century in 39 balls.. so that means he was on 100 runs of 130 balls and then 200 of 169 balls.

[nextwarne]

I was at that game. go astle

[basilbrushnz]

Bah I am still kicking myself, decided to stay at home instead of going to this days play as the game was already in the bag.

[stevieeng34]

Yes England really mucked that match up. Erm they won the match!

What an idiot!

[khadipai]

Unfortunately, Astle had dropped Thorpe very early in the England second innings. Thorpe went on to score an unbeaten 200. England won the match inspite of Astle's belligerence. Catches win matches.

[unknownlankan]

Astle is a world class player.... but he didn't get the support that he deserved.... Fleming was good too... england sux as alwayz... fucked up BIG TIME..

[lerpwlambyth]

England won the match...

[rameka1]

yea but they still sux

[cumonshane]

best innings ever

[DaNFuSsElL]

Nathan Astle is truely a fine batsman. I am an Australian and have followed Aussy Cricket all my life but one batsman that i have looked upto also is Nathan Astle. He was truely amazing to watch and judging by the way the NZers are playing atm, i wud say that he is sorely missed. What an innings that was!

[BroncosFan1990]

This was definitely a once in a lifetime innings.Awesome stuff from Astle but I thought the 156 he scored against the Aussies earlier that season was just slightly better.Amazing hitting though.

[pacus123]

If you're cutting ... cut hard!

[rosabc]

these guys have to be the most boring commentators!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[lerpwlambyth]

I know yeah. You should have heard Mark Nicholas commentating on the very same innings - he was practically orgasming.

[imgangrel8ed]

nah mate, u should hear the commentator calling the 6 herschelle gibbs 6s, he had no excitement in him at all, i mean the bloke just hit 6 6s, scream or something like the commentators for yuvraj's 6 6s

[winerookie]

That is some serious hitting. A shame Nathan retired he still has a lot to offer.

As for the NZ batting line up. It is a team that has a lot of all-rounders, Vettori has rescued a lot of innings for them and he bats at 8.

[GameOvais2]

That was some of the most spectacular ball striking ever seen. The he constantly charged the fast men and launched them miles is something we haven't seen repeated since. Amazing, truly amazing ball striking.

[rvfharrier]

lol "weak england attack" that sounds like the words of a sore loser to me. This "weak" england attack had just bowled new zealand out for 147 and did the same in the entire series, if you call that weak then that says something about what you think of the new zealand batting lineup.

[tannedstamina]

Ok, then Astle smashed around a strong english attack.

We all know the NZ batting line up is flimsy at best! Doesn't mean this wasn't a great innings...

[ryaniima]

The commentator was absolutely boring! An exciting innings like that and he made it sound like he was watching grass grow. Lovely video though, amazing stuff! Thanks couchnz!

[OneBigRetard]

It was boring because everyone watching the game knew it was a a pointless innings. Fastest double century ever. Cairnes also hitting but no win inprospect whatsoever.

Betting 200 to lose is not that exciting.

[NuXta]

All the more reason this knock ought to be appreciated, given the context. I don't think it's wise to dismiss such a heroic effort as "boring". It is exciting that Astle brought NZ to within 100 runs of the target. It's a mark of the triumph of the spirit, and an exhilarating one regardless of the result of the match.

[OneBigRetard]

All right. Don't over egg it. Not quite sure if it is a 'triumph of the spirit'. Why should it be more appreciated. He's on a hiding to nothing. Much easier to play free shots when you know you've lost. It was appreciated by the commentator (and by me, hence re-watching it on youtube). However, my point is a great knock in he cause of nothing ain't that great a knock.

[NuXta]

Well, I wouldn't expect a jaded armchair critic to appreciate such things, but regardless of whether or not you are sure of it, this innings certainly was a triumph of the spirit. One might also argue that many players wouldn't bother at all in such a situation. They'd simply fold in the face of imminent defeat, and most likely precipitate a collapse. So I don't think I'm "over egging" it.

[OneBigRetard]

I am a 'jaded armchair critic'. I don't have an armchair and I'm a 20 year old county academy player. Let's not make personal assupmtions. You eldlerly, retarded, female, buddist, communist voting, prune eating, bridge playing child molester!

[NuXta]

Clearly, you value the final result over the merits and thrills of the game itself. That is your privilege. The fact remains that this is still regarded as one of the greatest knocks in its own right, and rightfully so.

[OneBigRetard]

It's not about the final result. This is a rather pointless argument. I am merely saying the commentator would be far more exicted if the knock was in an exciting context. There is no excitement here. Merely a great knock. Something they acknowlege and appreciate. the word used was'exciting'. I don't think this is. Brilliant yes. Exciting no. Why? Because there is no tension.

[NuXta]

Each to his own, then.

For the record, English commentators are generally as boring as bat shit at the best of times. But you're right, this "argument" is pointless. Particularly since it is not difficult to gauge your level of maturity, judging by that lousy "comeback" referring to personal assumptions. Keep your eye on the ball, son.

[OneBigRetard]

Ok Dad. My eye is locked firmly on the ball. 'For the record'. Man that's funny. Which record? Is that a fact now that you have stated it. Mark Nicholas, Agnew, Boycott. All boring? Must be, you have stated so on the record. LMAO

[NuXta]

Hilarious, isn't it? If you'd bothered to read what I wrote carefully, you'd have noticed the word "generally". I didn't state or imply that all English commentators are boring. The two that were on the job here certainly were. As are you. Now piss off.

[OneBigRetard]

Botham is boring? Ok. Even kiwis are intitled to their opinion.

[NuXta]

Actually, I don't think "boring" is the right word. "Lacklustre" might be better. In any case, there is an endemic amongst some English supporters (and commentators) that causes them to view the rest of the (cricketing) world disparagingly, as if nothing that is done on a cricket field by any non-Englishman is of any consequence - a pathetic attitude which smacks of having a chip on the shoulder.

[OneBigRetard]

Chip on the shoulder? English? The one nation that really really doesn't have a chip because they all see themselves as gods own. The English critise their Cricket team far more than most and only a retard doesn't admit the Aussies dominate the sport. I see no 'disparaging' trend myself, I find the English supporters are very generous and passionate and far from pathetic. Apologises for calling you a sheep shagger.

[NuXta]

:) No problem... ditto... no hard feelings, I hope.

I support the "sheep shaggers" because I was born there and have always felt a connection to New Zealand. I live in Australia, a land full of redneck wankers and all manner of diseased social types, and few things make me happier than watching NZ thrash those bastards, and not just in cricket either (I will never forget that Chappell-Hadlee series).

[OneBigRetard]

LMAO. I live in Earls Court right now. There are more of them here than there I swear.

[NuXta]

Yes, apparently so - I just looked it up.

[NuXta]

Boycott used to come across as such - and in this instance, considering the circumstances, so do Botham et al, for the most part.

By the way, I am not Kiwi. :)

[Stephen1965]

I watched his innings which was one of the most incredible I have seen especially the second hundred in 37 balls.

[Joelberg11]

i was at that game it was awesome especialy when he was batting with cairns who could hardly stand and was batting at 11. its a shame we still lost though

[yaar99]

wow-talkin abt 37 ball century-first 100 was from 114 balls n second hundard was from 37 balls-best 4th inning batting i ever seen-wanted him 2 see in world cup

[hsv9412000]

Umm yaar99, Nathan Astle retired from cricket several months ago. So I'm not rating your chances of seeing him at the world cup, playing that is sorry.

[yaar99]

man read wat i wrote first-"wanted" not want-make sure u read comments carefully before replyin 2 any-peace

[kaushik111]

one of my faves. he surely can hit the cricket ball clean.

[zerotreehill]

that pommy commentator is a boring prick

[Detective313]

awesome, thanks for giving me the chance to finally see this great innings!!

[johnnytanini]

On form Astle was a fine player and a very good striker of the ball. Most ODI centuries of any NZer ever, and third most test centuries behind Martin Crowe and John Wright.

[anreddy9]

Man, what hitting!! However, since he was running out of partners, he was taking his chances...which made things bit easy, I believe.

[chestrockwe11]

You legend! Thanks for this!

[phillyfan06]

amazing! especially that last minute when he hit huge 6's

[ejm1990]

such an amazin batsmen, could bowl well and took many fantastic catches. he really was a match winner and will be missed. is he gona carry on playin county cricket??

[gullu1709]

This was by far, the cleanest hitting that I have seen in test cricket... Amazing stuff!

[tannedstamina]

Sad to see him retire!!